


Gender Is Weird When You're Half Dead

by Cornerverse



Series: Phantomverse [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: dani goes by elle, maddie is trying but parenting books do not prepare you for this, others are mentioned - Freeform, post-reveal, trans!Danny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29652111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerverse/pseuds/Cornerverse
Summary: Elle wonders why she's a girl if she was cloned from a boy.
Relationships: Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Maddie Fenton
Series: Phantomverse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2191638
Comments: 14
Kudos: 147





	Gender Is Weird When You're Half Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Did I write this self-indulgence despite others tackling the concept before? Yes. 
> 
> Are the characters probably OOC since I haven't watched the show in years? Probably. 
> 
> Am I letting any of that stop me? Absolutely not.

Elle was still getting used to trusting the Fentons. 

Sure. Danny trusted them. And even after all secrets were laid out, they handled it very well. A lot better than he thought they would. 

But Elle's history with parental figures was…. Not good. Even without Vlad, she had spent a few months hanging out with homeless people, including homeless kids. When she gave a half-truth about running away from her 'father', they hadn't seemed that surprised at the idea. It didn't paint a pretty picture. 

But the Fentons were nice. After Danny told them about her, they were all too happy to give her a place to stay. Not just in a "you can use the guest room if you're in town" way. 

No. They wanted her to stay full time. Even started giving her some of an education. While she already had basic reading and math skills, they were hoping to get her caught up and into actual school, along with forging some fake legal documents in case she ever wanted to go to a city where "I'm a clone of a half-ghost" doesn't fly. When asked why, they commented about how they wanted her to have a future. 

The same way they did when Danny joked about quitting school to be a ghost hunter full time because "god calculus is awful". As if Elle were just another kid. Another one of their kids. And not a clone that happened to share genetics with their son. 

Which… led her to one question that had bothered her for quite a while. As she sat at the kitchen table, watching Maddie tinker with something or other, she wondered if the woman would have an answer. 

"Hey, Maddie," Elle said, getting her attention. "Can I ask something?"

"Go ahead," Maddie replied with a smile, barely looking up.

"Why am I a girl?" She asked. 

That got her attention. Maddie looked up properly, setting aside her gadget and tools. A thoughtful frown on her face. 

"Do you not want to be a girl?" Maddie asked. 

"Huh?" Elle shook her head. "I- what? That's not what I meant. It's not like I have much of a choice, after all. I offered before but-"

"Offered?" She parroted. 

At that, Elle sank back in her chair. That was a memory she hadn't thought about in a long time. For good reason. 

"A while after I was first… created," Elle said. "After Vlad explained that he wanted to clone Danny, that I was a failure because I ended up a girl, I- I offered to pretend to be a boy. Told him he could call me his son if he wanted. He got upset at that. Told me I was a girl and that there was nothing I could do to change it. Now I know it was just him being pissed I wasn't a "perfect clone", but at the time… I thought it might mean he cared about me as, you know. Me. 'Danielle', not 'Daniel'."

"That man," Maddie grumbled. "I swear if I ever see him again he's getting an ecto-gun straight to the-"

"We can threaten him later," she cut her off. 

That got a smile. Most of the family bonded through death threats at Vlad. 

…

Elle wondered when she really began thinking of them as "the family". 

"Anyway," Elle said, pushing that revelation away for later. "What I meant was if you know why I turned out a girl. I was supposed to be a perfect clone of Danny. But I'm a girl. Sometimes I think it had to do with Vlad messing with the dna samples in an attempt to stabilize me, but why would he think changing the gender would do that?"

"Ah," Maddie sighed. "I do know the answer to that one. Usually I'd say it's better for Danny to tell you himself, but he won't be back until late tonight. You should still ask him for more clarification. He understands it better than I do."

Elle wondered what exactly this was about. She had never thought to ask Danny directly, assuming he was just as clueless as she was. Then again, he never had questioned Elle's gender. 

"Do you know what the word 'transgender' means?" Maddie asked. 

"I heard it once," Elle mused, recalling one of the homeless teens she met. "I don't know what it means though."

"Well," she said. "The basic version is that sometimes, people will be born one gender, but will realize that they feel more like the other gender. The 'trans' part comes from 'transition' meaning to transition from one gender to the other."

"So you can choose to change your gender," she said. 

"Being transgender isn't a choice," she corrected. "It's just something some people are. Though you can choose how far your transition goes. Some people just pick a new name and pronouns, others get hormone therapy, and some get surgeries so their body matches their gender." 

Okay. Elle was following this. But how did that connect to-

"Oh," Elle said. "Oh! So Danny was born a girl."

"Essentially," Maddie nodded. "Vlad didn't mess with the dna when it came to your gender. You're probably what Danny would look like if he didn't transition at all."

"That explains a few things," she said. "The clone attempts after me looked more like Danny, but were far less stable because Vlad was trying to make them biologically male! But why'd he tell me that I couldn't be a boy when I offered."

"Some people aren't quite as… accepting of the idea," she said, the tone of her voice indicating the urge to reach for her ecto-gun again. "Even to their own children."

Ah. That… sucked. There wasn't really a better way to put that. Though like most of this conversation, it made a lot of things make sense. 

"If you feel like a boy it's okay," Maddie interrupted her thoughts. "Though it's also okay if you still feel like a girl, or even if you feel like neither, which is also a possibility. You're your own person. Make sure your decision is based on what you want, not because you think it should be."

There was an implied "not because Vlad wanted you to be a boy". And Elle hated that she had to be reminded of that. Knowing nothing could make the man care about her, but wanting to whatever she could to make him. Jazz told her it was normal for kids to seek validation from adults, even at the cost of their own mental health. It didn't mean she had to like that fact. 

Instead of dwelling on that, Elle began thinking about this new information. Girl or boy? Maddie mentioned a "neither" option. It sounded good, but she wasn't sure if she really felt drawn to it, or if it was just wrapped up in the whole "Half-Ghost and also a clone" thing. 

"Well," Elle said. "Maybe I'm a boy? Because I think girls are pretty sometimes and boys like girls, right?"

"Okay, this is going to be a longer talk than I thought," Maddie sighed. "Let me get the slideshow."


End file.
